Public H ealtli and Social Welfare Work
Tlee Formal Establislmzent of Catlzolic Hospi,tals. The second Bishop of Galveston, the Most Reverend Claude Marie Dubuis, had felt always an irresistible urge to care for the sick and the suffering in his diocese. The service temporarily rendered by the Ursulines during the Federal attack on Galveston was fresh on his mind, as were the memories of the past devastating epidemics which he had miraculously survived when he went to Europe in 1866. He had been looking desperately for several years for a religious order to undertake this urgently needed work of charity. In the name of the poor, the sick and the afflicted he appealed as a last resort to Mother Angelique, of the Incarnate Word convent in Lyons, France, to undertake the training and formation under the Rules of her Order of such subjects as he would send her, that they might come to Texas and found a new order of charity. "Our Lord Jesus Christ suffering in the persons of a multitude of the sick and the infirm of every kind, seeks relief," said Bishop Dubuis in his appeal for help, which Mother Angelique of Lyons, France, answered. The good Bishop, on September 19, 1866, had the pleasure of giving the holy habit of his contemplated new order to the first three members of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word who had been trained in Lyons: Sisters Mary Blandine Nathelin, Mary Joseph Rousin, and Mary Agne Escude. 4 The three set out soon afterwards for distant Texas and upon their arrival in Galveston on October 25_, they stayed with the Ursulines three months, while St. Mary's Infirmary was being built in Block 487, which had been purchased by Bishop Odin years before. By December 14, 1866, the new convent had been almost completed. It was a two-story, red brick building, with a flat roof. It faced south, and in addition to living quarters, it had a temporary chapel, storeroom, kitchen, and dining room. The three founders, led by Mother Blandine, moved, on February 23, 1867, into their new quarters. In the meantime work continued on a two-story frame building, 30 x 50 feet, destined to become the first Catholic hospital in Texas. This was com,pleted and furnished by April I. 1867. The Galveston Daily News of that date carried a notice that private patients would now be received; that Doctors Edward Randall. J. E. Lac-ton. J. R. Haden. :md 4 The date of their reception is given as September 2 3, 1866, in the Diamond Jubilee, 1866-1871, booklet (Diocese of Galveston). The earlier date is found in notes sent to the Author by Mother M. Incarnation, Assistant Superior General, Villa de Matel, Houston, July 3, 1951. Reference to the teaching activitie1- are- .~iven in Chapter VIII.
Powered by FlippingBook